Breaking Ground, formerly Common Ground, is a nonprofit social services organization in New York City whose goal is to create high-quality permanent and transitional housing for the homeless. Its philosophy holds that supportive housing costs substantially less than homeless shelters — and many times less than jail cells or hospital rooms, and that people with psychiatric and other problems can better manage them once they are permanently housed and provided with services. Since its founding in 1990 by Rosanne Haggerty, the organization has created more than 5,000 units of housing for the homeless. Haggerty left the organization in 2011 to found Community Solutions, Inc. Brenda Rosen was promoted from Director, Housing Operations and Programs to Executive Director, and has led the organization since.
Breaking Ground began by rehabilitating the Times Square Hotel (located at 8th Avenue and 43rd Street), which opened in 1991. It then restored other historic properties including the Prince George Hotel, opened in 1999. Since 2000, Breaking Ground has expanded to new construction, developing a total of 15 residences, with another 1,000 units in various stages of development.
In Australia, following a report by Haggerty to the South Australian Government, Premier Mike Rann and Social Inclusion Commissioner David Cappo backed Haggerty's recommendations with a multimillion-dollar investment in inner city apartment buildings. Common Ground Adelaide and Street to Home were established and have now been adopted in other Australian States.
Programs
Street to Home Among Breaking Ground's activities is conducting street outreach, which consists of documenting the homeless population and then trying to persuade those who spend the most time on the streets to seek permanent housing, even if they still have drug, alcohol or medical problems. Breaking Ground is contracted by the City of New York to conduct street outreach in all of Brooklyn and Queens and nearly one third of Manhattan.
Some of those involved in the issue of homelessness consider Breaking Ground a pioneer in this approach in the United States.
However, the count, which has been adopted by the city for use in other areas, is not an end to itself, but a first step. According to Becky Kanis, the former Director of Breaking Ground's "Innovations Department",
The important part is what we do with this information. We want to move from crisis management to lasting solutions. Other cities have done that successfully. We plan to do the same.... At the real end of the day the only thing that's going to matter is the people who have been thus far completely unwilling to accept the offers of shelter, etc. by outreach workers. Can we reach them and make a positive difference in their lives? What can we do compassionately to help these people who have, for all practical purposes, fallen through the cracks of society? That's where our focus is; that's what matters. ... We don't know exactly what's going to work here in New York, but we know what's worked in other cities. Therefore, we're going to spend our efforts doing those things, and as we find smarter and better ways to do things we will adopt them.
The Street to Home initiative is a partnership of Breaking Ground and the Times Square Alliance, and the strategy reduced homelessness by 87% over two years. It incorporates strategic targeting of individuals and intensive followup modeled on the successful approach used in the United Kingdom's Rough Sleepers Initiative. The Rough Sleepers Initiative achieved a 75% reduction in street homelessness across England and prompted deeper investment in homelessness from Parliament. In New York City, Street to Home has been adopted as a citywide strategy to reduce street homelessness by two-thirds within three years. Breaking Ground will direct all efforts on the streets of midtown Manhattan and throughout the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
Breaking Ground's initial strategy was to deal with a 20-block neighborhood around Times Square with one of the highest levels of homelessness in the city, focusing on securing housing for those who have been living on the street the longest and need housing the most. They replaced the random "first come, first served" approach with a targeted, strategic process: identify and prioritize the most vulnerable individuals on the street, assess and negotiate housing options with those individuals, then house and retain.
Identify and Prioritize Street to Home partners with Business Improvement District public safety officers or community outreach workers who – because they are on the front lines every day – have a thorough knowledge of the people continually living on their streets. They are trained by Breaking Ground in approaches to introduce clients to a housing team that will help them to secure housing. A simple tracking tool enables workers to differentiate between those who are consistently in the targeted area – called "anchors" – and those who are transients. The role of "anchor" individuals in street homelessness was identified in the Rough Sleepers Initiative, with subsequent targeting of those individuals yielding greater success – a tipping point – in engaging and moving individuals in the surrounding area. Breaking Ground developed a research-based Vulnerability Index to take the guesswork out of outreach and offer a rational system for prioritizing the most vulnerable homeless for housing.
Assess and Negotiate Because most people who have lived on the streets for a long time are suffering from multiple disabilities and are usually eligible for some form of housing subsidy, Breaking Ground trains service providers in how to assess for eligibility for housing, services, and benefits, and provides tips on expediting this process. With the immediacy of the housing offer in hand for the individual, Street to Home uses techniques derived from Motivational Interviewing and Trauma Informed Care in working with clients to negotiate placement into housing. Street to Home assesses each individual's eligibility for subsidized housing and income benefits and walks each person through the process of obtaining permanent housing- registering for disability or income support benefits, completing medical and psychiatric tests, and finding an apartment that fits the person's needs.
House and Retain Since the start of the Street to Home initiative, Breaking Ground has helped more than 175 adults – who had been homeless an average of 9.9 years – move from the streets directly into permanent housing, where more than 90% are able to maintain their housing. Most individuals who have lived on the streets for long periods do not wish to live in a shelter but want and are successful in their own homes, which begins their reintegration into society. Some clients of Street to Home have re-established relationships with family members. Many are working or have returned to school.
Foyer While on vacation in Ireland, Breaking Ground founder Rosanne Haggerty learned about the Foyer Program in the city of Belfast, a model long used in France, Ireland, and England to help young people without family and at risk of homelessness make the transition to adulthood. Haggerty hoped the model might be useful in New York City, where about 20 percent of homeless adults have a history of foster care, and where, according to one city agency, some 3,700 young people will age out of foster care between 2002 and 2004.
Haggerty decided to replicate the Foyer Program in her next project – the renovation of an old YMCA residence in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, which set aside 40 of its 207 units for young adults ages 18 to 24 who are aging out of foster and residential care or are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The Chelsea Residence (The Christopher) provides employment, educational mentoring and life-skills training programs; participants work over an 18-month to two-year period toward permanent housing and stable employment. The $32 million project, which includes $9 million for acquisition, has received state, city and private financing.
Foyers are a way "to help people who aren't ready to be on their own to develop the life skills, job skills and maturity to lead independent, successful lives," according to Sister Paulette LoMonaco, executive director of New York City's Good Shepherd Services.
Current residences
Breaking Ground has 24 buildings with 4,103 units.
BuildingLocationNumber of unitsThe Dorothy Ross Friedman (formerly The Aurora)Midtown Manhattan178CedarwoodsWillimantic, CT56The ChristopherChelsea, Manhattan207The DomenechBrownsville, Brooklyn72Eastman CommonsRochester, NY80The HegemanBrownsville, Brooklyn161The LeeLower East Side, Manhattan263The Prince GeorgeMidtown Manhattan416The Times SquareTimes Square, Manhattan652The SchermerhornDowntown Brooklyn, New York217The AndrewsThe Bowery, Manhattan146The Betty Ruth and Milton B. Hollander Foundation CenterHartford, CT70The BrookSouth Bronx190Boston RoadMorrisania154The Lenniger (owned by CUCS)Tremont9240 RiversideUpper West Side55The Sydelle (owned by CUCS)Belmont102Redwood Senior Living (owned by EBC)East New York80Park HouseTremont, Bronx248Webster ResidenceTremont, Bronx171La CentralMelrose, Bronx161East Flatbush Safe HavenEast Flatbush, Brooklyn110Midwood Safe HavenMidwood, Brooklyn51Scattered Site ApartmentsVarious171Queens Drop In CenterOzone Park, Queensn/a
The Times Square (Times Square, Manhattan; 652 units)
This 15-story art deco building has a lobby with vaulted ceilings and a marble staircase. By the 1980s, the Times Square Hotel was in a state of decay. Its ceilings were caving in, its halls were dark and dangerous, and its tenants were drug addicts, homeless families and elderly people with no place else to go.
Rosanne Haggerty became obsessed with saving the run-down hotel at the corner of Eighth Avenue and 43rd Street and converting it into a home for street people, low-income workers and psychiatric survivors. Haggerty and other housing activists applied for every grant, tax credit and low-interest loan available, won the support of corporate and community leaders and sold Mayor David Dinkins on their vision.
In 1994, the restored Times Square Hotel re-opened, and today houses 652 residents. Supportive social services are provided by the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS).
The Prince George (Midtown Manhattan; 416 units)
For decades the Prince George Hotel, with its burnished wood, lavishly detailed ceilings and classical columns welcomed visitors to Edith Wharton's New York. But then the hotel declined, becoming one of New York's notorious welfare hotels of the Bowery in the 1980s, when it housed about 1,600 people. The city closed it in 1989.
Today, the hotel on East 28th Street has reopened, combining aspects of both of its previous incarnations. It once again provides housing to the formerly homeless, but the number of residents is far less, and they are able to take advantage of supportive services within the building. At the same time, the Prince George has been restored to its former glory in what now has become one of Manhattan's official historic districts, Madison Square North, with particular attention to its once-again elegant ballroom, a grand gathering place. Supportive social services are provided by the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS).
Prince George Ballroom